Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T12:18:12.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Legitimacy, hypocrisy, and the social structure of unipolarity: why being a unipole isn't all it's cracked up to be

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

G. John Ikenberry
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
Michael Mastanduno
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
William C. Wohlforth
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
Get access

Summary

One would think that unipoles have it made. After all, unipolarity is a condition of minimal constraint. Unipoles should be able to do pretty much what they want in the world since, by definition, no other state has the power to stop them. In fact, however, the United States, arguably the closest thing to a unipole we have seen in centuries, has been frustrated in many of its policies since it achieved that status at the end of the Cold War. Much of this frustration surely stems from non-structural causes – domestic politics, leaders’ poor choices, bad luck. But some sources of this frustration may be embedded in the logic of contemporary unipolarity itself.

Scholarship on polarity and system structures created by various distributions of power has focused almost exclusively on material power; the structure of world politics, however, is social as much as it is material. Material distributions of power alone tell us little about the kind of politics states will construct for themselves. This is particularly true in a unipolar system, where material constraints are small. Much is determined by social factors, notably the identity of the unipole and the social fabric of the system it inhabits. One would expect a US unipolar system to look different from a Nazi unipolar system or a Soviet one; the purposes to which those three states would use preponderant power are very different. Similarly, one would expect a US unipolar system in the twenty-first century to look very different from, say, the Roman world, or the Holy Roman Empire (if either of those counts as a unipolar system). Social structures of norms concerning sovereignty, liberalism, self-determination, and border rigidity (among other things) have changed over time and create vastly different political dynamics among these systems. Generalizing about the social structure of unipolarity seems risky, perhaps impossible, when so much depends on the particulars of unipole identity and social context, but in the spirit of this project, I will try.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Paul, T. V.Wirtz, James J.Fortmann, MichelBalance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st CenturyStanfordStanford University Press 2004
Ikenberry, G. JohnAmerica Unrivaled: The Future of the Balance of PowerIthaca, NYCornell University Press 2002
Finnemore, MarthaThe Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs about the Use of ForceIthaca, NYCornell University Press 2003
Watson, AdamThe Expansion of International SocietyOxfordClarendon Press 1984
Gong, Gerrit W.The Standard of ‘Civilisation’ in International SocietyOxfordClarendon Press 1984
Reus-Smit, ChristianThe Moral Purpose of the State: Culture, Social Identity, and Institutional Rationality in International RelationsPrincetonPrinceton University Press 1999
Christian Reus-Smit, American Power and World OrderCambridgePolity Press 2004
Jackson, Robert H.The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of StatesNew YorkOxford University Press 2000
Krasner, Stephen D.Sovereignty: Organized HypocrisyPrincetonPrinceton University Press 1999
Ruggie, John G.Territoriality and Beyond: Problematizing Modernity in International RelationsInternational Organization 46 1993 139Google Scholar
Bukovansky, MladaLegitimacy and Power Politics: The American and French Revolutions in International Political CulturePrincetonPrinceton University Press 2002
Nye, Joseph P.The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It AloneOxfordOxford University Press 2002
Barnett, MichaelDuvall, RaymondInternational Organization 59 2005 39
Barnett, MichaelDuvall, RaymondPower in Global GovernanceNew YorkCambridge University Press 2005
Ikenberry, G. JohnAfter Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order after Major WarsPrincetonPrinceton University Press 2001
Weber, MaxEconomy and SocietyRoth, GuentherWittich, ClausBerkeleyUniversity of California Press 1978
Barnett, MichaelFinnemore, MarthaRules for the World: International Organizations in Global PoliticsIthaca, NYCornell University Press 2004
Hawkins, Darren G.Lake, David A.Nielson, Daniel L.Tierney, Michael J.Delegation and Agency in International OrganizationsNew YorkCambridge University Press 2006
Hurd, IanAfter Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power at the United NationsPrincetonPrinceton University Press 2007
Hurd, Ian 1999
Reus-Smit, Franck, Thomas M.The Power of Legitimacy among NationsNew YorkOxford University Press 1990
Hurd, Ian 2005
Krebs, RonaldJackson, Patrick T. 2007
Krebs, RonaldLobasz, Jennifer 2007
Krasner, Stephen D.International RegimesIthaca, NYCornell University Press 1983
James, HaroldInternational Monetary Cooperation since Bretton WoodsNew YorkOxford University Press 1996
Snyder, JackMyths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International AmbitionIthaca, NYCornell University Press 1991
Scott, James C.Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant ResistanceNew HavenYale University Press 1985
Walt, StephenTaming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. PrimacyNew YorkNorton 2005
Keck, MargaretSikkink, KathrynActivists beyond BordersIthaca, NYCornell University Press 1998
Risse, ThomasRopp, StephenSikkink, KathrynThe Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic ChangeNew YorkCambridge University Press 1999
Risse-Kappen, ThomasBringing Transnational Relations Back In: Non-State Actors, Domestic Structures and International InstitutionsNew YorkCambridge University Press 1995
Wapner, PaulPolitics beyond the State: Environmental Activism and World Civic PoliticsWorld Politics 47 1995Google Scholar
Price, RichardReversing the Gunsights: Transnational Civil Society Targets LandminesInternational Organization 52 1998 613Google Scholar
Khagram, SanjeevDams and Development: Transnational Struggles for Water and PowerIthaca, NYCornell University Press 2004
Sikkink, KathrynRestructuring World Politics: Transnational Social Movements, Networks, and NormsMinneapolisUniversity of Minnesota Press 2002
Dell, SidneyEssays in International FinancePrincetonInternational Finance Section, Department of Economics, Princeton University 1981
Call, ChuckBarnett, Michael 1999
Forde, StevenTraditions of International EthicsNew YorkCambridge University Press 1992
Williamson, Oliver 1983
Williamson, OliverThe Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, and Relational ContractingNew YorkFree Press 1985
Gambetta, DiegoTrust: Making and Breaking Cooperative RelationsOxfordBasil Blackwell 1988
Williamson, Oliver 1993
Leeds, Brett Ashley 1999
Fearon, James D. 1995
Martin, LisaDemocratic Commitments: Legislatures and International CooperationPrincetonPrinceton University Press 2000
Simmons, Beth A. 2000
Pevehouse, JonLocating the Proper AuthoritiesAnn ArborUniversity of Michigan Press 2002
Shklar, JudithOrdinary VicesCambridge, MAHarvard University Press 1984
Brunsson, NilsThe Organization of Hypocrisy: Talk, Decisions, and Actions in OrganizationsNew YorkWiley 1989
Weaver, CatherineHypocrisy Trap: The Rhetoric, Reality and Reform of the World BankPrincetonPrinceton University Press 2008
Dovi, Suzanne 2001
Lynch, MarcMoral Limit and PossibilityNew YorkCambridge University Press 2008
Graham-Brown, SarahSanctioning Saddam: The Politics of Intervention in IraqLondonI. B. Tauris 1999
www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/opinion/15wed1.html 2008
Lipson, Michael 2007

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×